Rollers, Kingfishers, Hornbills, and Hoopoes 



501 



the tunnel approaching it; later, fish brought for the young, but dropped on the way, and 

 the fluid excreta of the parents are added, forming a dripping, fetid mass swarming with 

 maggots. The young, on leaving the nest, are at first tenderly fed and cared for by the 

 parents, but towards the end of the summer seem to be driven away to seek new fishing- 

 grounds for themselves. 



Of the many legends that have grown up around this bird, some are well worth repeating. 

 Specially interesting is one related by Professor Newton on the authority of the French 

 naturalist Holland. This has it that the kingfisher was originally a plain grey bird, and 

 acquired its present bright colours by flying towards the sun on its liberation from Noah's 

 ark, when its upper-surface assumed the hue of the sky above it, and its lower plumage was 

 scorched by the heat of the setting sun to the tint it now bears. Not a few virtues were 

 also attributed to this bird. Its dried body would, it was believed, avert thunder-bolts, or, 

 kept in a wardrobe, preserve from moths the woollen stuffs contained therein, whilst, hung 

 by a thread from the ceiling of a room, it would serve like the more conventional weather- 

 cock to point the direction of the prevailing wind. 



Persecuted though it is, the kingfisher is by no means a rare bird in England, and 

 those who will may generally see it by the banks of some slowly flowing stream or lake, 

 or even shallow brook, sometimes even by the seashore. It feeds upon small aquatic insects 

 and Crustacea and small fishes, sometimes even, it is said, upon leeches. Perched on some 

 bough overhanging the water, or stump or railing on the bank, it watches patiently, silent 

 and motionless. The moment its prey comes within striking distance it plunges down upon it, 

 disappearing for a moment beneath the surface, to appear the next with its capture in its 

 beak. If this be a fish, it is held crosswise, and borne upwards to the station from which 

 the plunge was made, there to be stunned by a few sharp blows, tossed into the air, 

 dexterously caught, and swallowed head-foremost. At times, however, perhaps when hunger 

 presses, more activity in the capture of food is displayed, the bird hovering suspended over 

 the water, after the custom of the kestrel-hawk. 



Although essentially fish-eating birds, a considerable number live far removed from water, 

 obtaining a livelihood by the capture of insects in forest regions, whilst some appear to feed 

 mainly on reptiles. These are known as Wood-kingfishers, to distinguish them from the Water- 

 kingfishers, the typical member of which group has been just described. 



Of the WOOD-KINGFISHERS, 

 or KINGHUNTERS, as they are 

 also called, the most beautiful 

 are the KACKET-TAILED KING- 

 FISHERS, so called from the 

 fact that the two middle tail- 

 feathers are produced into 

 two long rods, terminating in 

 a spoon-shaped enlargement. 

 Although represented by no 

 less than twenty distinct 

 species, they have a somewhat 

 limited range, being found 

 only in the Moluccas, New 

 Guinea, and Northern Aus- 

 tralia. One of the hand- 

 somest of all is the one 

 occurring in Amboina, an 



island in the Malay Archi- photo by scholastic piwto. 



pelago, where it was discovered LAUGHING-KINGFISHERS. 



by Mr. A. K. Wallace. The This species has comparatively dull-coloured plumage. 



[Parson's Green. 



